2013 Gardening Thread (Read 239 times)

Thanks! All the websites and calendars I checked said carrots would be okay before the last frost (May 15). I can always cover them with sheeting if temps drop below freezing, and they are in pots next to the sunny side of the house (which retains heat). I am only a mile or so from Lake Michigan, so my temps are generally warmer than what you see in the Chicago burbs. I started my tomatoes and peppers inside (they go outside during the warm days, and back inside at night); based on your experience in Indy I may consider starting my squash and cukes inside vs. direct seeding later in May.

Another thing that you may want to do is find a local nursery that sells the vegetable plants. Chances are that if they have them out for sale you can plant them (big box stores are usually too early, IMO). Nurseries are also good places to get advice on what does and doesn't work in your area. Can't beat local knowledge.

Some other plants that can stand the cold are your cole crops (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, etc.). Frost does not bother them. Potatoes too.

Lots of potatoes are coming up. I wanted to plant some other stuff over the weekend but frost was in the forecast (they were right, heavy frost last night). Potatoes may have got bit a little but they will be fine. So some tomatoes and flowers go in next weekend.

A couple weeks ago, I went to a transition network workshop. A group turned several lawns to vegetable beds. Here is what they did.

Put a few pieces of cardboard (single layer) on the grass, then put garden soil on it. Now plant whatever you want to grow. The cardboard will kill all the grass and weed. Once the plants grow, they will penetrate the cardboard. earthworms will also help digest the cardboard.

I am curious if anybody grow dandelion. A guy in my local transition network group grows dandelion. He eats dandelion green like spinach but apparently it has higher Vitamin A and C, Iron and Calcium than Spinach. Here is the nutrition fact.

My flower shoots (lily and hosta) are eaten by deer. Do you have any tips to protect them? I read someone suggest 20% egg + 80% water will do. Anybody tried that?

Personally I would wait until the season opened in the fall and then shoot/eat the deer so that the rest would learn to be more timid about coming up into my garden. But most people don't have that option to exercise. There is not a lot you can do for deer that is not very labor-intensive; tie a bunch of white rags up around the garden that wave in the wind, they don't like the motion. They have an instinctive reaction to associate waving white with danger (ie their tails).

They recommended waiting until 5/15 to plant here and they were pretty close; we had a very light frost Monday. So now the last two days I've put in pretty much everything....potatoes, the first round of corn, pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupes, peas, beans, lettuce, spinach, basil, and peppers. Just need to buy a couple tomato plants.

I have 30 new grape vines scheduled to arrive today or tomorrow. That is going to be a TON of work to get them in, although I already have the trellis system up. Not really looking forward to that.

This year was a nice change as my oldest (6) is now big enough to really help. I hope she is so enthusiastic when it is time to weed!

My perennial problems have been grass and Canadian thistle. R2farm on here found a spray for me that works great on the grass so that problem was fixed last year. I've managed to win the upper hand over the thistle through repeated cutting in most areas now; its last remaining stronghold and source of seeds was my black raspberry and raspberry patches. We had a vicious battle last year but I lost, and was considering just killing the whole patch and starting over. But I did some research and found Casoron 4G, which is a pre-emergent that has post-emergent effects on Canadian thistle. Boy, does that stuff work! It turned around a rough day to go out to the patch and see all the thistles yellowing.

"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

My flower shoots (lily and hosta) are eaten by deer. Do you have any tips to protect them? I read someone suggest 20% egg + 80% water will do. Anybody tried that?

I suggest large dogs! We moved into our new house in November, and for the first year, the front yards of our house and our neighbor are actually in bloom as the two large dogs we have in our outdoor pen do a good job at keeping the deer at bay. Unfortunately they have gone another route and are now eating the plants in other neighbors' yards.....

I do not have any actual useful tips, but will be interested in the responses of others.

My flower shoots (lily and hosta) are eaten by deer. Do you have any tips to protect them? I read someone suggest 20% egg + 80% water will do. Anybody tried that?

As far as deer go I do not have any suggestions. In my neighborhood they only come around at night. It is very rare that I even see them. I see the hoof prints and their droppings in my garden so I know that they are around. My fencing keeps small critters out of the garden but the deer just step over it. Luckily they do not eat everything that I plant. Last year was the first year that they were a noticeable problem so I am just going to wait and see what happens this year.

I live in the woods, and I have a pretty big garden. The best way to deal with deer is fencing, plain and simple. I have the fence supported by four by four larch posts, with five foot tall plastic coated welded wire fence. Above that is four feet of deer netting. Along the base of the fence (which is buried into the ground three or four inches to keep out burrowing animals like woodchucks) is a row of chicken wire, which is how I keep baby bunnies out the garden.

Next year I'm thinking of adding a moat filled with alligators. Probably the only way I will keep chipmunks out.

I live in the woods, and I have a pretty big garden. The best way to deal with deer is fencing, plain and simple. I have the fence supported by four by four larch posts, with five foot tall plastic coated welded wire fence. Above that is four feet of deer netting. Along the base of the fence (which is buried into the ground three or four inches to keep out burrowing animals like woodchucks) is a row of chicken wire, which is how I keep baby bunnies out the garden.

Next year I'm thinking of adding a moat filled with alligators. Probably the only way I will keep chipmunks out.

That 9 feet is about the minimum to keep them out. I've seen them pop over 6-ft garden fences like nothing if they want to eat what is in there. I used to hunt a semi-suburban spot specifically because the property owner had given up on gardening because the 6-ft fence would not stop them.

My entire property used to be an elk farm, so I still have 8-ft fences around the whole thing. The deer still jump them. Game farms that keep whitetails captive usually use 12-ft fences.

So yes, I agree fencing is best, but you have to be serious about it.

"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

As far as deer go I do not have any suggestions. In my neighborhood they only come around at night. It is very rare that I even see them. I see the hoof prints and their droppings in my garden so I know that they are around. My fencing keeps small critters out of the garden but the deer just step over it. Luckily they do not eat everything that I plant. Last year was the first year that they were a noticeable problem so I am just going to wait and see what happens this year.

Are you kidding? You never see them? I see them every day where I live. Lots of them. 10, 20...And yes, I live way south of you in a different part of the state, but, when you look at "ruralness", I think you live in a more rural part of the state than I do...but it's hard to judge.

And, although I haven't mentioned it, I travel in your area once a week, and I see them sometimes. Not all the time, but sometimes. In the daytime. Around 5 PM. Not dusk. Not night. I saw one yesterday in Alpha at 5 PM.

Are you kidding? You never see them? I see them every day where I live. Lots of them. 10, 20...And yes, I live way south of you in a different part of the state, but, when you look at "ruralness", I think you live in a more rural part of the state than I do...but it's hard to judge.

What I meant is that I rarely see them in my immediate neighborhood, and in my yard. But they are all over the place. I see them nearby all the time. For some reason they only come around my immediate neighborhood at night. And I know that they were in my garden as the stems chewed off of the tomato plants were to high for it to be anything else. Plus the hoof prints. Plus the pellets.